Category: travel

As we are literally snowed in this morning, I am daydreaming about our time in Costa Blanca back in October and pinning places to visit on our next trip to Sardinia, Italy this time! Booked the hotel using onthebeach.com as last time, but we bought the plane tickets separate, it was much cheaper. I am all for the experience and adventure on a budget.

If you are new here, please read part 1 of this blog post here, where I share about Calpe and Valencia and some of our tips and tricks to travel with your family on a budget.

Fuentes de Algar. This place was recommended by Trip Advisor App, read the reviews and saw the pictures and we decided it was worth the trip. The satnav took us through a labyrinth of a citrus tree farms with narrow dirt roads…

I don’t have many pictures of it, as we were too busy making sure we don’t scratch the rental car. It was quite a scary adventure that we didn’t want to experience again so we took a different route on our way back to Calpe.

Algar was beautiful. Big sister dared to go for a swim in the waterfall which was a little bit too cold. She is an adventures spirit this one. 🙂 Little sister dipped her toes in too, but she decided: nope, not today! 🙂

Fonts de Algar is around 30 to 40 min away from Calpe ( Calp) depending on the traffic. As it was October, there were very little tourists around which made the experience even more enjoyable, the kids were telling us that they feel like they were on an adventure in an Amazon Jungle 🙂 Make sure to park your car at the first car park and then walk up to the waterfall, if you are early ( we were the first ones there ) you just might park for free ;), you got to love the Spanish hospitality. There is an entry fee of 5 Euros/ person and 2 Euros/ 4-10 year olds, under 3 goes in free. You can find more information here: Las Fuentes de Algar. We packed a picnic and we spent the whole day there.

The next few days we spent exploring more of Calpe. The last day we spent in Alicante before flying home that evening from Alicante airport. We just literally wondered the small streets guided by our Trip Advisor list we made.

El Bario, a very colorful community, only a 15-minute walk, away from the Alicante port. There were lots of stairs.

looots of stairs

view from the top

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Alicante Port

making new friends

We had an amazing time and we definitely recommend Costa Blanca for your next vacation. Plan and budget ahead and visit as much as possible. Get lost a bit, you might just find a cute little vintage bookshop or museum. Discover and explore through the eyes of your little ones. Thank you for reading and safe travels!

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This October, while our kids were off from school, we traveled to Spain, Calpe- Costa Blanca. We booked our holiday almost a year in advance through onthebeach.com. It was our first time using the holiday booking website. We were a bit nervous, but everything went perfectly with no unwanted surprises.

We had such a fantastic time and managed to explore so many beautiful places in just 7 days with 3 kids under 8 that I decided to share how we did it all on a budget.

Calpe

As I mentioned already, we booked our holiday ( hotel + plane tickets) using Onthebeach.com in January and traveled in October – extra season. I believe that is the best time to travel, especially with small children. The weather is great, the temperatures were around 25 Celsius, the beaches and all the tourist attractions were not too crowded, just perfect and hotels are so much cheaper.

Playa de la Fossa o Levante – Fossa Beach

I researched everything there is to visit around Calpe that was not too far to travel to by car, the kids will get bored if it’s more than 2 hours one way. Made a list on TripAdvisor App and on Pinterest on my phone and my husband’s phone with the places we wanted to visit in every city. We rented a car and paid for insurance a few months before we left. If you are traveling from England make sure you get your EHIC cards – European Health Insurance Card, it’s free from NHS – in Calpe, just for a doctor to see you ,you have to pay £120, don’t ask me how I know that.

In our beautiful hotel gardens

We paid for our holiday in installments throughout the year which was very convenient. We stayed in a ground floor apartment at Sunsea Village, it had three bedrooms (we only used two), bathroom and an open plan kitchen and living room and gorgeous gardens just outside our living room. We did all the cooking, we ate out only 3 times in Calpe, Valencia, and Alicante. For two adults and three kids be prepared to pay over £50 for a meal out…not cheap. In Calpe, there are plenty of Supermarkets to shop from, even Aldi and Lidl. Just a note, usually in apartments like these there is no oven just a 4 spot electric hob, so keep that in mind when you shop for food.

The most delicious Coconut Icecream in a Coconut shell – from Mercadona Supermarket 🙂

Beach hair and coconut ice cream!

Just down by the Muralla Roja Hotel – La Manzanera, breathtaking views!

The first day we rested a bit and then went to the beach. The water was a bit cold as you went in but after a few minutes it was just fine, we spent a lot of time in the sea.

We also wandered around the old town of Calpe. We struggled to find a place to park…I can only imagine how difficult it is in the summertime. There was an Art street festival for all ages, there where people on every corner painting and sketching.

Making friends and learning Spanish.

The kids made a new friend, Luisa, the daughter of the restaurant owner where we had lunch.

Valencia! Oh, you are a magical city!…the light in that city is just beautiful. The first place we visited was The Science and Art Museum. As you step in…you feel like you just stepped on a different planet. The architecture by Santiago Calatrava is amazing. They were having a special sculpture exposition by artist Manolo Valdes.

We later drove to the old part of Valencia, parked our car and walked everywhere, we got lost a few times on the narrow streets, but thank God for Google maps. Yes, by the end of the day we were exhausted but in love with the city. We had a lovely lunch right in the Plaza de la Reina.

Plaza de la Reina – Valencia

So many beautiful tall doors with cool details!

Treasure hunting in a vintage bookshop.

One day is definitely not enough to explore this city, we would love to go back, we didn’t manage to hit all the spots on our list. This post is getting way too long so I will split it in two. In the next blog post, I will share more on Fuentes de Algar and Alicante. If you have any questions please leave them in comments and I will be more than happy to answer them. <<Edited: read part 2 here.>>